7 minute read
A Huge Head Start
Dual credit programs help students save money, experience college and begin their careers faster
Dual credit made Imunique Triplett a singular sensation.
In the fall of 2021, Triplett graduated from MATC’s Licensed Practical Nursing program six months before earning her diploma from Milwaukee Public Schools’ Rufus King International High School. And despite being the youngest student in her nursing class, Triplett was chosen by her classmates to speak at the pinning ceremony.
Back then, graduating with a college diploma before receiving her high school diploma made her national news: Stories about her appeared in newspapers, magazines, and radio and television shows all across the country.
Today, Triplett is at Marquette University, where she expects to earn her bachelor's degree in registered nursing in May 2026. She plans to attain a master's degree in nursing and become a certified nurse midwife.
Triplett participated in M³ (pronounced M-cubed) College Connections, a dual enrollment program supported through a collaboration between MATC, MPS and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She took nursing classes at MATC while in high school.
“I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Once I discovered what I wanted to do, the nursing program aligned right with it,” Triplett said in 2021. “It gave me the practical experience, the networking experience, the learning experience. The faculty and everyone at MATC were super supportive and provided inspiration.
“It was worth every tear I shed and every night I stayed up late studying,” she said. “It has been a very special experience.”
MATC’s dual credit programs provide special educational experiences for thousands of students throughout the college district each year, said Josephine Gómez, Ed.D., director of high school relations and transfers at MATC and the dean of community education and strategic engagement.
The number of students participating in MATC’s dual credit programs, which include students spending the entire school day in college and students taking college-level courses at their home high schools, is growing between 8% and 10% per each year, Dr. Gómez said. Today, nearly 4,000 students participate.
As the cost of college rises, students, parents and families are viewing these programs as a way of getting a great head start.” - DR. JOSEPHINE GÓMEZ, Dean of Community Education & Strategic Engagement
Of the 80 high schools in the MATC District, 59 of them had at least one student in at least one dual credit class during the 2023-24 academic year, Dr. Gómez said.
“As the cost of college rises, students, parents and families are viewing these programs as a way of getting a great head start,” she said.
MATC’s staff of dual enrollment specialists closely monitor what programs and classes resonate most with students, Dr. Gómez said. “They know what schools want,” she said. “The great thing is with 180 programs there is something at MATC for everyone.”
An opportunity to excel
Instructors, students and high school administrators have high praise for MATC’s various dual credit programs.
“Students like dual enrollment, and I think the parents like it even more,” said Thomas P. Geil, a retired MATC math instructor who teaches college-level courses at Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West high schools. “They recognize that this opportunity is a really good one.”
Geil has taught math classes in a half dozen high schools in the MATC District, including Franklin, Oak Creek, Port Washington and South Milwaukee. Although he retired as a full-time instructor in May 2024 after 23 years, he teaches Calculus III and differential equations in the Wauwatosa schools.
“The instructors in those classes are careful to tell students that they are taking a college class, and I think the students like that,” Geil said. “And students that come to MATC for classes are getting college exposure. It’s a college experience, and they are college students.”
One of those students was Ayden Wucherer. His father was a firefighter for nearly two decades. Another relative protected and served as a police officer. Still another enlisted in the military.
As a junior at Homestead High School in Mequon, Wucherer didn’t want to wait to do his part. He enrolled in MATC’s Emergency Medical Technician program and spent nearly his entire senior year taking classes at MATC’s Mequon Campus. He received his technical diploma on May 19, 2024 — nearly three weeks before he got his high school diploma.
He started college classes in August 2023. “The campus is about five minutes away from my house, so it was very convenient,” he said. “At first, I thought it would feel a little weird taking college courses, but I discovered that I really liked them.”
Wucherer was the first Homestead student to participate in MATC’s Dual Enrollment Academy. He also hopes more high school students consider dual enrollment programs.
“I would much rather do something that would help me in my career,” Wucherer said. “I, one hundred percent, made the right choice. I felt I was studying things that would have a real effect on what I wanted to do. I felt that it all mattered.”
Farther north at Ozaukee High School, Morgan Howard loved taking shop classes. Her interest in all things mechanical came from her father, who worked in several foundries and machine shops, and from her uncles, who fixed cars.
“Shop classes were always my favorite,” she said. “Eventually, I had taken every one the school offered.”
MATC gave her a chance to take more. During her senior year, Howard and two other Ozaukee seniors traveled to the Mequon Campus four days a week and learned welding. In May 2023, the students earned technical diplomas in welding from MATC on the same day they graduated from Ozaukee High School.
“You can’t go wrong with welding,” Howard said. “There’s a real variety in the type of welding you can do. Plus, you’re learning a skill you can get a job with.”
Andy Gremminger, a counselor at Ozaukee High School, said the school partners with various institutions in “start college now” programs, but MATC’s program is different.
“For us, the Dual Enrollment Academy at the Mequon Campus takes that kind of program to the next level,” Gremminger said. “It’s a hard thing to say no to, especially from a cost perspective. You walk out of high school with not only a high school diploma, but with a technical diploma as well.” ■
MATC Dual Credit Programs
The college has an array of dual credit programs that give high school students a promising start to their college careers.
On Campus
Dual Enrollment Academy
Throughout their senior year of high school, DEA students earn high school and college credits while receiving college-level training at MATC to begin careers in high-demand fields.
Start College Now
Qualified high school juniors and seniors take college courses at MATC during the regular academic year. Credits earned can be applied toward a degree at MATC or many other colleges.
M3 College Connections
This innovative dual enrollment program of MPS, MATC and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee allows eligible students to complete their high school graduation requirements while earning college credits from both MATC and UWM.
Off Campus
Transcripted Credit
Courses are delivered at the high school, duplicating MATC competencies, curriculum, assessments and resources. Students earn dual credit but must receive a grade of C or better to receive MATC credit. High school instructors are trained, certified and mentored by MATC faculty.
Contracted Courses
MATC instructors come to high schools and teach college courses.
